March 13th, 2019
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It’s not a good week on the home market. There are some big releases, like Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, but none of them are good. There are a couple of contenders for Pick of the Week, but the The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: The Complete Series DVD is a re-release at a more reasonable price, while it is worth waiting to get the The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Special Edition Blu-ray. In the end, I went with a late screener, The Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. It is definitely the best bet for fans of Giallo and / or Film Noir.
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February 24th, 2019
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It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. We will announce the winners and have our reactions as they happen, while keeping track of how our readers did in predicting the outcomes.
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February 24th, 2019
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It’s Oscar Day, and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. in Italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. For example, I would be happy with half of the Best Picture nominees winning.
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January 23rd, 2019
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday starting at just after 5 am Pacific time. They do this every year for reasons no one has been able to adequately explain to me. Because it was the day after a long weekend, it took a bit of time to get all the normal work done and digest the results. And there were some interesting results to digest. No one film led the way with total nominations, as two films, The Favourite and Roma tied with 10 nominations each.
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January 12th, 2019
The BAFTA nominations were announced and The Favorite led the way with 12 nominations. Sometimes the BAFTAs are a really good indicator for who will do well on Oscar night. Other times their bias to British films is too much. I think this year will be an example of the latter and I don't think The Favourite is suddenly an Oscar favorite. That said, there’s still some things you can learn here.
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January 9th, 2019
Bumblebee rose to first place with $82.7 million in 62 markets for totals of $192.0 million internationally and $289.6 million worldwide. It was able to earn first place thank in part due to its first place debut in China, where it earned $58.06 million over the weekend for a total opening of $59.26 million. The film needs to make more than $150 million in China to have a secure future there. Granted, films in China tend to have short legs, but Transformers has usually been the exception, so I’m cautiously optimistic for its chances.
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January 3rd, 2019
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Aquaman remained the top draw on the international market with $88.4 million on 23,360 screens in 78 markets for totals of $562.4 million internationally and $751.4 million worldwide. The film’s biggest new market was Australia where it opened with $7.94 million on 632 screens over the weekend for a total opening $11.04 million. Its biggest market overall is China where it added $11.45 million over the weekend to its running tally, which now sits at $261.28 million after four weeks of release. It overtook Suicide Squad for third place in the D.C.E.U. and it is not done yet.
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January 2nd, 2019
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Due to the holidays, there was a delay in getting final numbers from major studios for the weekend box office, but the last of them have finally arrived. Aquaman dominated with $52.11 million over the three-day weekend, while it cracked $200 million on New Year’s Day. Mary Poppings Returns isn’t matching expectations, but it is still having a profitable run. Meanwhile, both Bumblebee and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse are overcoming incredible competition to dig out profitable runs of their own. Overall, the weekend box office hit $188 million, which is 6.2% higher than last weekend, and while it is 3.5% lower than the same weekend last year, this is still better than expected. It will take a long time to get the final yearly results, not until the MPAA’s state of the industry report in April, but preliminary results have 2018 beating 2017 by 8.4% or $920 million at $11.91 billion to $10.99 billion.
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December 27th, 2018
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Aquaman had another significant expansion helping it keep first place with $95.2 million on 31,900 screens in 70 markets for totals of $415.5 million internationally and, including updated Domestic tallies, the global take is $488.2 million worldwide. It is ahead of every other film in the D.C.E.U. on the international chart, which is impressive. Its biggest new market was South Korea, where it earned first place with $7.94 million on 1,272 screens for a total opening of $10.08 million. It also opened in first place in France with $6.6 million on 607 screens, as well as in Germany with $4.9 million 805. The film’s biggest market overall was China, where it slipped to second with $23.41 million on 12,000 screens for a three-week total of $233.59 million.
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December 22nd, 2018
Friday was not as potent as midnight previews led us to believe it would be. That said, Aquaman still had an impressive $28.0 million opening day. This does include the previous night’s $9.0 million in previews, but not last weekend’s $4.7 million in previews, giving the film a $32.7 million running tally. The film’s reviews remain in the overall positive level and it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so it should have relatively good legs over the weekend, for a comic book movie. We predicted an opening weekend of $67 million and I think the film will top that, by one or two million dollars. It is more than enough for Warner Bros. to continue with the new direction DCEU is taking.
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December 21st, 2018
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Aquaman earned $9.0 million during Thursday’s previews, which is a little lower than the $11.0 million Wonder Woman opened with. However, the film also had $4.7 million in earlier paid previews, which undoubtedly lowered last night’s figure a little bit. Its reviews continue to be good, but not great, so it won’t have amazing legs over the weekend, but after a start like this, topping Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s $71.56 million haul from last year is a lot more likely. In fact, $80 million over three-days is a realistic goal to aim for.
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December 19th, 2018
It is a busy week, as there are seven films opening wide over the next seven days. Not all of these will be hits—the competition is just too great for that. However, there could be a real race for Christmas champion this year. Because of its fast start in China and its strong pre-sales numbers, many believe Aquaman will top earlier expectations and earn first place over the three-day weekend. However, I think Mary Poppins Returns will be number one over the full week, partially because it should earn a bigger boost over Christmas, but also because it is opening two days early. Meanwhile, Bumblebee’s surprisingly strong reviews are lifting its box office potential.
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December 16th, 2018
Sony’s estimates have Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse earning $35.4 million over the weekend. Its reviews and its A plus from CinemaScore should both helps its legs, as will the upcoming holidays. On the other hand, it does have direct competition next weekend, more or less. Aquaman will attack it from the super hero side of things, while Mary Poppins Returns will take from its family film side. That said, with a start like this, $100 million domestically is practically guaranteed, while $150 million is a solid goal to aim for.
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December 12th, 2018
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The Screen Actors Guild were the third group to announce their nominations for this awards season. There’s not a lot of surprises on this week’s list. A Star is Born led the way with four nominations, while The Favourite was right behind with three.
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December 6th, 2018
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The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. For example Vice led the way with six nominations, so its Oscar chances have gone up, but don’t expect it to lead the way when the Oscars nominations are announced.
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December 1st, 2018
November turned out to be a really, really good month. I thought 2018’s lead over 2017 would shrink, potentially by $200 million to $300 million. However, the lead actually managed to grow a little bit, thanks to hits like Ralph Breaks the Internet, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Bohemian Rhapsody. December has an equal number of potential hits, led by Mary Poppins Returns, which some think will top $300 million. Additionally, Spider-man Into the Spider-Verse, Aquaman, Bumblebee, and Holmes and Watson all have a realistic shot at $100 million or more. On the other hand, last December was stronger, at least on top. The Last Jedi earned more than $500 million just during December, which is more than any December release this year will earn in total. It could be more than the top two films earn in total. 2018 will win the in year-over-year competition; however, its lead won’t be as large as it is at the start of the month.
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September 17th, 2018
Musical adventure starring Emily Blunt opens December 19 ... Full Movie Details.
The mysterious Mary Poppins returns to Depression-era London to visit Jane and her brother Michael, now a father of three, and helps them rediscover the joy they knew as children.
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September 4th, 2018
Musical starring Emily Blunt opens December 19 ... Full Movie Details.
The mysterious Mary Poppins returns to Depression-era London to visit Jane and her brother Michael, now a father of three, and helps them rediscover the joy they knew as children.
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